Modeling Particulate Matter and Ozone in the 18 Cities of Sichuan Basin, Southwestern China

Sichuan Basin (SCB) is one of the regions most affected by air pollution in China, with an area of 0.22 million km² and a population of 108.1 million in 2015. Using the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) and Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) models, PM_2.5 (i.e., particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 µm) and its components and ozone (O₃) in the SCB are simulated for summer and winter in 2015. Anthropogenic emissions were generated based on the Emission Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR) v4.3, and biogenic emissions were simulated using the Model of Emissions of Gases and Aerosols from Nature (MEGAN) v2.1. The model performance was validated before the variations were analyzed and the 18 cities were compared. This study also quantified the contributions of source sectors and regions to PM2.5 at each cities and estimated the health effects.